THROUGH THE BIBLE STUDY 2 CHRONICLES 33-36 The name “Manasseh” means “one who causes to forget” – and this was the evil king’s legacy… His idolatry caused the people of Judah to forget their God. The period from Solomon to Manasseh covered 234 years. Manasseh was the 14th ruler of the divided kingdom of Judah. Six more kings and 57 years will come after him. Manasseh was the beginning of the end for the southern kingdom. When the Babylonians conquered Judah – the nation is judged, Jerusalem is sacked, the Temple is destroyed – God provides His people an explanation… In Jeremiah 15:4 God says of the Jews, “I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.” God identified Manasseh as the painful cause. Of Judah’s 20 kings – all but 8 were evil – and none were more so than Manasseh. Verse 1, “Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem.” No king was as wicked as Manasseh – and sadly, no king reigned longer. He ruled Judah from 697-643 – 5½ decades of depravity. CH Surgeon said of Manasseh, “David’s blood was in his veins, but David’s ways were not in his heart. He was a wild, degenerate shoot of a noble vine.” "1 Verse 2 “He did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he raised up altars for the Baals, and made wooden images; and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.” He was into both idolatry and astrology. “He also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem shall My name be forever." Manasseh brought his idols into the Temple. A heretic strays from the truth. A blasphemer attacks the truth. Manasseh did both. “And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.” The Temple went from consecration to constellation. No longer was the Creator worshipped, but His creation. Astrology corrupted the house of God. “Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom (this was a reference to child sacrifices offered to the idol, Molech); “He practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists.” Manasseh was a warlock – a Jewish Harry Potter. “He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.” And the beat goes on, verse 7, “He even set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this "2 house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers - only if they are careful to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses." Obviously, Manasseh broke that sacred trust God had established with David and Solomon. He scorned God’s promise. “So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel…” 2 Kings 21:16 adds to Manasseh’s list of sins, “Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another…” Jewish tradition has it that Manasseh was the king who had Isaiah sawn in two. “And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen.” Perhaps God spoke to Manasseh through Isaiah, and king tried to cut him short. “Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon.” The Assyrians flexed their muscle in the region arrested the Judean king. Manasseh was taken into exile in chains. Notice, we’re told the king of Assyria took Manasseh “with hooks.” He put a hook in the conquered king’s nose and led him along like he would an animal. "3 The other day I was at the store, where I saw a guy strolling through the aisles with a nose ring. I almost asked, “how do you pick your nose while wearing one of those?” I didn’t, but he got me thinking about Manasseh. When he was arrested his enemies put a hook in his nose, chains on his wrists, and took him prisoner. Verse 12 is one of the most amazing verses in the Bible. “Now when he was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.” I like this comment on the plight of Manasseh, “God sent him to the dungeon to repent; as he did…Jonah into the whale’s belly to pray. Adversity has whipped many a soul to heaven, which otherwise prosperity had coached to hell.” King Manasseh is to the Old Testament what Saul of Tarsus is to the New Testament. He was a vile and vicious enemy of God’s people converted in the midstream of his wickedness. Both men experienced miraculous conversions. And both examples give us hope. If God can save a Manasseh He can save you and me. No one is beyond His reach – no matter how heinous their crimes. Ted Bundy, the serial killer – and Jeffrey Dahmer the cannibal – both claimed to come to Jesus at the end of their lives. Will we see them in heaven? Why not? "4 If Manasseh repented and God forgave him – God can forgive anyone. Hey, the reason it’s called “amazing grace” is because of people like Manasseh. “After this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate; and it enclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height.” He worked on the southwest wall of Jerusalem. “Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah. He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city. He also repaired the altar of the LORD, sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.” Here’s a sign of true repentance - Manasseh tried to repair the damage he’d done and lead the people to God. “Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the high places, but only to the LORD their God.” Manasseh is the classic example of someone whose sins are forgiven – but though he tries he can’t erase his sin’s consequences. The question is never “Can God forgive me?” Of course He can. But there’s no guarantee your repentance will erase your evil influence on your son or daughter. Manasseh repented, but the evil shadow he’d cast over the nation remained. "5 Verse 18 “Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. Also his prayer and how God received his entreaty, and all his sin and trespass, and the sites where he built high places and set up wooden images and carved images, before he was humbled, indeed they are written among the sayings of Hozai. So Manasseh rested with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. Then his son Amon reigned in his place. Verse 21 “Amon was 22 years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.” His father reigned 55 years. Amon ruled a mere 24 months. “But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done; for Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and served them. And he did not humble himself before the LORD, as his father Manasseh had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.” Amon had been far more influenced by his father’s rebellion than by his repentance. “Then his servants conspired against him, and killed him in his own house.” Amon was so wicked his servants refused to stand by and watch him plunge the nation into another 5 decades of depravity so they plotted his assassination. "6 “But the people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.” Chapter 34, “Josiah was 8 years old when he became king, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.” And I love verse 3, “For in the 8th year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David…” Notice the phrase, “while he was still young”.